Pakistan 149/4 (Target 148)

Pakistan win by six wickets

Clinical stuff from Pakistan. Check out highlights and a full wrap here.

19th over - Sodhi in for what will be the final over. Babar closes us out with a boundary and that's all she wrote.

18th over - Babar slams Tickner over midwicket to ease some pressure for four. Bang! Goes again, and they should waltz home from here. Costly overthrow. Six! Haider blasts his first ball over square leg. Haider whallops another one for four, they want to close this one out now. 19 off the over.

17th over - Boult to bowl out. Just one run off his first three balls. Another dot, just a bit of pressure starting to build now. OUT - Nawaz skies one to the keeper, end of a scratchy knock and Pakistan will probably be pleased to see another batsman at the crease at this stage.

Mohammad Nawaz c Conway b Boult 16 (19b 2x4 0x6) 

16th over - Southee continues. Babar caught on the pads, shout goes up bt seemed to be drifting down leg. Williamson throws a 'Hail Mary' review at it, doesn't come off. Tidy over, five runs from it.

15th over - Back to Boult, goes Williamson. If they can put the clamps on for a couple of overs and take a wicket, you just never know. Babar swipes at a high bouncer, gets a thick edge and it runs away for four. Decent over either way for NZ, just five from it.

14th over - Neesham back. Nawaz crucnhes one behind point for four. Ten off the over.

13th over - Spectacular dive on the boundary to save four by Phillips, who's had an off night by his high standards. OUT - Shadab Khan departs after skying one to point. An important innings comes to an end.

Shadab Khan c Southee b Tickner 34 (22b 2x4 2x6)

Nawaz off the mark with a slick square drive for four.

12th over - Southee back into the attack. NZ need wickets, that's their only hope here. Consecutive wides won't help. Shadab plays a deft ramp shit to the the fine leg boundary, Conway does really well to sprint back 50 metres, slide and use his foot to stop the ball hitting the rope. Don't see that every day.

11th over - Fifty up for Babar, superb knock. Comes from jst 33 balls with seven boundaries. Bracewell's first over costs six runs.

10th over - Sodhi again. Shadab hoists the spinner back over his head for six.

9th over - Neesham continues. Pakistan patiently working the gaps. Six off the over.

8th over - Ish Sodhi into the attack. First ball is guided down leg for four by Babar. Six! Shadab Khan hammers Sodhi off one knee over mid-on and clears the rope by a mile, almost out of the ground. Bizarre misfield by Phillips, overran it and the ball runs away for four. 16 runs off the over, Pakistan are rolling here.

7th over - Neesham up for his first over. Babar with a thick edge for four.

6th over - OUT - Thunderbolt from Tickner and Masood gets a faint edge through to wicketkeeper Conway. Two quick strikes for the Blackcaps.

Shan Masood c Conway b Tickner 0 (2b 0x4 0x6)

Shadab Khan signsal his intent with a belting backfoot drive for four.

5th over - Southee continues. Dropped! Don't see that too often from Phillips, one of NZ's best fielders. Running to his right but it was pretty straightforward. Babar isn't the bastman you want to give a life. OUT - Southee raps Rizwan back on his crease, LBW given. Rizwan wants to review.  Trackers shows the ball clipping leg stump. 

Mohammad Rizwan lbw b Southee 4 (12b 0x4 0x6)

4th over - Tickner into the attack. Full toss dispatched accordingly by Babar for four. Six off the over, Pakistan off to a tidy start.

3rd over - Babar cuts Boult for four. Follows that with a gorgeous cover drive that races away for four more. Leans back and ramps Boult down to third man for four more. 16 off the over.

2nd over - Southee to the crease. Both batsmen off the mark with singles. Azam edges wide of slip for the first boundary.

1st over - Boult to open the bowling. Maiden to start.

INNINGS BREAK - Fantastic effort by the Pakistan bowlers. Their Kiwi counterparts have a huge task ahead to defend this score. 

20th over - Wasim in to bowl the final over. OUT - Sodhi drags one on to his middle stump.

Ish Sodhi b Mohammad Wasim 2 (3b 0x4 0x6)

Wasim closes out a five-run, wicket over to complete an excellent bolwing effort by Pakistan.

19th over - Rauf to bowl the penultimate over. OUT - Bowled him! Collects the top of Neesham's off stump. 

James Neesham b Haris Rauf 5 (6b 1x4 0x6)

OUT - Two in two balls for Pakistan. Bracewell looks to play a premeditated ramp shot but is caught on his pads, looked on the money and the umpire agrees. Bracewell reviews but that's clearly out. 

Michael Bracewell lbw b Haris Rauf 0 (1b 0x4 0x6)

Chapman swings hard, slightly edgy but it runs to third man for four.

OUT - Chapman holes out to deep midwicket, three wickets in the over for Rauf. Brilliant stuff.

Mark Chapman c Mohammad Wasim b Haris Rauf 32 (16b 3x4 2x6) 

18th over - OUT - Phillips absolutely creams a cutshot but it goes right down the throat of Asif Ali at backward point. 

Glenn Phillips c Asif Ali b Shahnawaz Dahani 18 (17b 1x4 0x6) 

Neesham opens his account with four runs through cover. They'll need him to fire in these final three. Two off the final ball but the over costs just six runs.

Sodhi sneaks a single to deny Rauf a hat trick.

17th over - Three runs off the first three balls by Wasim. Hitting his areas effectively.  Superb over, five runs off it.

16th over - Suddenly this NZ innings looks in much better shape. Phillips charges, doesn;t quite pick it up but the placement is great, four more through midwicket. 11 off the Rauf over.

15th over - Chapman has had enough, plunders Shadab high and handsome over mid-on for six. Six more! Mistimed pull is hit hard enough to still clear the rope. Chapman makes it three straight boundaries in the over, flat bats over mid wicket, then goes four again! Pulls a terrible ball to the ropes. Huge over for NZ, they needed that. 22 runs from it.

14th over - Time to up the ante here for the Blackcaps. That three-run over, not ideal.

13th over - Nawaz to bowl. Phillips strikes a couple of clean balls deep but picks out the fielder on both occasions. OUT - Williamson swings and misses, big heave across the line ends an out-of-sync innings from the skipper. 

Kane Williamson b Mohammad Nawaz 31 (30b 1x4 0x6) 

12th over - Shadab again. Phillips quickly off the mark with a single. Just five off the over.

11th over - Nawaz continues. Couple of runs fine down leg. Look out, we have a streaker. That's a brave man getting naked in these conditions, not to mention the obvious. Conway drops to a knee and sweeps one bounce into the fence.  OUT - Conway goes high and wide over mid-wicket and it's comfortably taken on the boundary.

Devon Conway c Haider Ali b Mohammad Nawaz 36 (35b 2x4 2x6)

10th over - Conway slams Shadab over mid-on, fielder takes the catch but he has two feet over the rope, that's another six. 50-run partnership up. Better couple of overs for the hosts.

Time for some drinks. The batsmen may prefer a cup of tea with these temperatures.

9th over - Nawaz continues the spin offensive. Pakistan really keeping the clamps on here, three overs without a boundary for NZ off the bat. That'll help! Conway uses his feet and blasts Nawaz back over his head for the first six of the game.

8th over - Iftikhar in with some more off-spin. Williamson attempts to drive and gets a thick edge, falls just short of backward point. Follows that with a deft reverse sweep, they cash in with two runs.

7th over - Shadab Khan in for the first over of spin. Slick running running between the wickets from this pair, but just four off the over.

6th over - Rauf takes the ball. Slow start for NZ, could be time to put the foot down a little. Dicey single taken, direct hit would've sent Williamsonon his way, instead it runs away for four overthrows.

5th over - Wasim again. Williamson finds the boundary for the first time with a well-timed pull shot.

4th over - Conway charges and lofts Dahani over cover for four. Six off the over.

3rd over - Wasim into the attack. Allen gets away with an edge, runs through vacant first slip for a single. OUT - Allen tries to pull a ball that was too full, skies an easy catch for the bowler to collect.

Finn Allen c & b Mohammad Wasim 13 (8b 3x4 0x6)

2nd over - Dahani's first ball is poor, guided fine for four by Allen. Lovely late cut follows for consecutive boundaries.

1st over - Rauf to Allen to get us started. Allen advances second ball and punches over mid-off for four. 

7:03pm - Nothing but blue sky in the Garden City but there's a definite nip in the air. Anthems are underway, we'll be into the action very shortly.

6:52pm - Here's your Blackcaps XI for this evening's contest:

New Zealand: Devon Conway, Martin Guptill, Kane Williamson, Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, James Neesham, Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Blair Tickner, Ish Sodhi

6:45pm - The Blackcaps have won the toss and chosen to bat.

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Kia ora and welcome to our live updates of the Blackcaps' tri-series opener against Pakistan from Christchurch's picturesque Hagley Oval.

With the T20 World Cup immediately on the horizon, the quickfire tournament serves as a valuable final warm-up for both sides, as they close out their preparations before heading across the Tasman.

Pakistan are just 24 hours removed from a comfortable win over Bangladesh in the first game of the series, although they won't be satisfied with their relatively lacklustre performance with the bat on a night when their bowlers bailed them out.

Meanwhile, the Blackcaps will be eager to fire a warning shot across the bow of their competition with a clinical performance in front of their home fans.

Incidentally, the last time these two sides met was at last year's T20 World Cup, when Pakistan prevailed by four wickets at Sharjah.

Join us for all of the action from 7pm.

TAB betting odds:

New Zealand - $1.57 Pakistan - $2.23

Squads:

Blackcaps: Kane Williamson (c), Finn Allen, Trent Boult, Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway (wk), Lockie Ferguson, Martin Guptill, Adam Milne, Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee

Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan (vc), Shaheen Afridi, Iftikhar Ahmed, Asif Ali, Haider Ali, Mohammad Hasnain, Shan Masood, Mohammad Nawaz, Usman Qadir, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Khushdil Shah, Naseem Shah, Mohammad Wasim

Blackcaps to play it safe with Lockie Ferguson with Twenty20 World Cup looming

The Blackcaps are taking a cautious approach with the fitness of quick bowler Lockie Ferguson, wary of any injuries as the Twenty20 World Cup in Australia fast approaches.

Ferguson, 31, has been selected in the Blackcaps' 15-man squad to travel for the World Cup later this month but coach Gary Stead earlier this week revealed New Zealand's fastest bowler is battling an abdominal concern.

Another injury would be a cruel twist for Ferguson, who was ruled out of last year's T20 World Cup in the UAE with a calf injury.

In Ferguson's absence, the Blackcaps still reached the final of the 2021 tournament, losing to Australia.

But with the extra pace Ferguson offers, Stead said every necessary precaution will be taken to ensure he's fit for the World Cup - which the Blackcaps begin when they face Australia in Sydney on October 22.

"Lockie's just got a little ab… injury, at the moment," Stead said. "We're just managing [him] through that.

"The important thing for us is we get to the start of the World Cup and Lockie's ready to go.

"He's a very important cog in our bowling lineup and, unfortunately for him, missed last year's World Cup almost a year ago now with the injury he had then.

"We're mindful of it, we've got to make sure we want him right and ready for those early games in the World Cup."

In the meantime, Stead said Ferguson could play little role in the Blackcaps' T20 tri-series with Pakistan and Bangladesh.

"There is that chance," Stead added. "We'll just see how he responds to treatment over the next few days."

Ferguson isn't the only Blackcap under concern at the moment either, after Daryl Mitchell suffered a fractured hand in training on Friday.

The Blackcaps begin their tri-series against Pakistan in Christchurch on Saturday, who defeated Bangladesh by 21 runs in the opening match on Friday.